Taiwan Aims to Attain 8 M. Users of WiMAX in 2008

Taipei, April 23, 2008 (CENS)--Taiwan has been actively engaged in developing WiMAX (worldwide interoperability for microwave access) network technology, and planned to have a total of 8 million users of services based on the technology by the end of this year, according to Chen Chao-yih, director general of Industrial Development Bureau (IDB) under MOEA.

To promote more advanced network and communication technologies, like WiMAX, the IDB has carried out a "Mobile Taiwan" project, and teamed up with related enterprises and academic units to work on the WiMAX.

Chen said that at present, development of 4G (fourth generation) communication technology is still immature, and WiMAX is comparatively progressive. Hence, IDB officials have turned to focus on WiMAX trying to help Taiwanese suppliers become capable of not only making CPE (customer premises equipment) and base station devices, but also providing related services, in hopes of forming a sound sector of the technology on the island.

Chen added that Taiwan's industry insiders and academia have progressed significantly in the development of WiMAX to keep up with the world. The technology is expected to narrow a gap of digital technology resources in hospitals, schools and nursing care centers between cities and remote areas on the island.

Korea and Japan have moved to develop WiMAX earlier and have licensed the technology to private companies. As to Taiwan, it concentrates on development of WiMAX's standard frequency band of between 2.5GHz and 2.69GHz, has aroused Japan's interest in cooperation with the island to develop service platforms and applications of mobile VoIP (voice over Internet Protocol) blog, Internet video monitoring, and mobile heath caring services in the future.